The present invention relates to bags formed of thin flaccid material for containing merchandise and the like, and particularly to bags of this type which include handles to facilitate carrying or handling the bag after it has been filled.
It is conventional practice for many manufacturers of various types of merchandise to package such merchandise in bags which can be displayed at the point of purchase, and which permit the buyer to simply pick up and carry away the purchased merchandise. These bags must be inexpensive and lightweight, and they are therefore usually made from a thin plastic material, such as polyethylene. One of the more common types of bags used for this purpose is a simple, single-wall plastic bag folded at the centerline of a length of material and having the two sides sealed together, usually by conventional heat sealing equipment employed during the bag assembly process, to leave an open top so that the merchandise can be loaded into the bag, and these bags may have handles formed by openings cut into the tops of the side wall panels of the bag through which the hand may be inserted to carry the bag. While these openings provide a simple and inexpensive manner of providing a handle, they have the disadvantage of adversely affecting the strength characteristics of the plastic material, and bags of this type are therefore prone to tear during use, particularly if the merchandise contained in the bag is relatively heavy or if the bag is carried for an extended period of time. It is also known, in open-top bags, to provide pull cords made of fabric or heavier plastic which are disposed in reinforced or double-walled slots at the top of the side wall panels, thereby increasing the strength characteristics of the bag while also increasing significantly the costs of producing the bag, and these bags do not enjoy the functional advantages of bags which can be sealed at the top to protect the merchandise carried in the bag. Finally, in bags of this type, separate handle elements of hardened plastic may be secured to the side wall panels, but such separate handles also increase the cost of the bag and may, in some cases, make it more difficult to stack and store bags filled with merchandise because of the projecting presence of the handles.
Some bags are specifically formed to have a rectangular shape which, in some cases, is intended to conform to the rectangular shape of particular merchandise contained therein (e.g. folded diapers, blankets and similar items), and which, in other cases is the result of the bag being filled with a flowable or particulate merchandise) e.g. peat moss, grass seed and the like) that causes the bag to expand to its rectangular shape. In making bags of this type, it is conventional practice to form one end face of the bag with a gusset that permits such end face to readily assume the desired rectangular configuration, thereby providing the bag with a pleasing and neat appearance. In many such bags, the other, or open end of the bag may also be sealed across the flat surface of the merchandise, in which case the end shape of the bag is generally cubic in shape, or such other end is formed to an excessive length so that it can be twisted into a pigtail that can be used to carry the bag. These pigtail-type bags are somewhat difficult to stack because of the uneven bulk of the pigtail, and the pigtail is not a particularly satisfactory handle since it may tend to slip from the hand unless it is grasped firmly, and this problem may be exacerbated by the generally stick texture of the plastic material forming the pigtail and by the weight of a bag containing a large amount of merchandise. Additionally, these pigtail-type bags do not provide the same product integrity that is obtained from bags having a fully sealed end.
In an apparent effort to overcome the disadvantage of pigtail-type bags, some gusset-type bags have been made with separate handle strips. In one form, relatively long strips of plastic are secured directly to the basic bag construction, such as by heat sealing the opposite ends of the handle strip to the outside of the bag at the corners formed by the gusset; or by utilizing a separate, unitary piece of plastic having a rectangular attachment strip and a relatively long handle strip extending across opposite sides of the attachment strip, and the attachment strip is then heat sealed around the periphery of the bag at the gusset with the handle then extending across the midpoint of the rectangular end of the bag when it is filled with merchandise. In both of the aforesaid bags, the handle strips have an extended length so as to provide a relatively large loop through which the hand or arm can be readily inserted when the bag is carried, but this same extended length also creates significant drawbacks. More specifically, the large loops formed by the handles will tend to fall to the side of the bag when it is being stacked or handled in bulk quantities (e.g., when replenishing the supply of full bags on the shelf at a store), and they will therefore tend to become tangled with the handles of other bags or with the hands and arms of the worker engaged in the stacking operation. Also, once stacked, the dangling loops can be unsightly and may be inadvertently engaged by customers and/or equipment (e.g. shopping carts) passing near the stacks of filled bags. Moreover, since these handles are heat sealed or otherwise secured to the exterior portions of the basic bag construction, the bag-forming process may become more complex and significantly increase the cost of producing such bags, and it is usually necessary that the handle be secured to the bag so that it extends across the shorter dimension of the rectangular bag, thereby making it more difficult to carry the bag by its handle since the longer dimension of the bag is directed toward the side of the person carrying the bag and may interfere with the walking movement of such person. Finally, it should be noted that ink cannot normally be impressed onto the surface of a plastic bag in the areas where a heat seal has been formed, and, therefore, bags which have a handle attached thereto by a separate strip heat sealed about the exterior perimeter of the bag will have a reduced exterior surface area on which ink can be applied to the bag to present pictures, printed instructions, and similar copy.
In accordance with the present invention, a container bag is provided which includes a handle that can be readily grasped and held for carrying without presenting the difficulties in known bags having the aforesaid large handle loops, and a unique method for forming the bag is provided which is relatively simple and which adds very little costs to the conventional method of forming gusset-type bags without handles.